Doctors on contract to be regularised: CM
Shimla, March 23
The Himachal Government will regularise the services of all the contract doctors fulfilling the eligibility criterion in a phased manner. It will also consider the voluntary retirement options of the serving doctors on merit keeping all related aspects in view.

Data review shows fewer jobless
Shimla, March 23
The exercise being undertaken by the Labour Department to revalidate data regarding unemployment is likely to bring down the number of jobless registered with various employment exchanges significantly.

Karmapa to have monastery near Dharamsala
Dharamsala, March 23
After spending several years, in Gyuto Tantric University in Sidhbari, near here, the 17th Karmapa will soon have permanent residence of his own. His office has been looking for a piece of land close to Dharamsala for the setting up of a monastery to house the Karmapa and his staff.

Police steps up surveillance on Nepalese
Shimla, March 23
Perturbed by the increased activities of Maoist sympathizers in the state, the police has started taking not just photographs but also the finger prints of Nepalese migrants, numbering over 32,000 in Shimla district alone.

63 pc injections unsafe in India: survey
Kangra, March 23
As per a study, 48.1 per cent patients in India get injections and 63 per cent of these injections were found unsafe with risk to the patient or to the injection giver or risk to the community.

Over 400 HIV positive cases detected
Kangra, March 23
More than 400 persons were detected as HIV positive out of 1800 persons who were tested at a voluntary counselling and testing centre in the Dr R.P. Government Medical College Hospital taking the number of the HIV positive cases in the district to 450 which included 22 children below the age of seven and eight years with 53 full blown cases.

Trust seeks better conservation of IIAS
Shimla, March 23
Pained at the ‘failure’ of the Archaeological Survey of India in taking effective steps to prevent the decay and seepage at many places within the imposing structure of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage has offered to depute its experts for undertaking the conservation work.

Rath yatra mere ostentation: Swami Giri
Chamba, March 23
Shri Sanatan Dharam Math Mandir Suraksha Samiti has described the proposed rath yatra of the BJP in the name of national integration as mere “ostentation” on mislead the masses of the country.

Landslide in Chamba
Shimla, March 23
About 30 sheep and goats were buried alive in a massive landslide triggered by heavy downpour in remote Trella village in Bharmaur tribal region of Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh, official sources said today.

Shimla, March 23
The Himachal Government will regularise the services of all the contract doctors fulfilling the eligibility criterion in a phased manner. It will also consider the voluntary retirement options of the serving doctors on merit keeping all related aspects in view.

This was announced by Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, while addressing the medical staff during his visit to the Mahatma Gandhi Medical Services complex at Rampur today.

He said the government had taken a policy decision to give preference in all recruitments to the bona fide residents of Himachal Pradesh who had passed their MBBS and BDS courses from institutions located in the state followed by those who belonged to the state but obtained their professional degrees from outside.

Mr Virbhadra Singh said that all the hospitals would be provided the necessary medical and testing equipment required for diagnosis and there would be no dearth of funds for the purpose. The government would set up a trauma centre at the Rampur hospital which would also cater to the Kinnaur district.

The Chief Minister said the government would ensure posting of specialists in all the major hospitals with a view to providing the best medical services to the people at their doorstep. He said a list of the specialists was being prepared for posting in the major health institutions.

Shimla, March 23
The exercise being undertaken by the Labour Department to revalidate data regarding unemployment is likely to bring down the number of jobless registered with various employment exchanges significantly.

The exercise became necessary for the computerisation of employment exchanges under the plan to switch over to e-governance to weed out multiple registrants. The revalidation of registrants in the Shimla Regional Employment Exchange has revealed about 40 per cent ghost jobseekers, indicating that the actual number of unemployed persons is much less than the official figures based on the data available from the manually managed exchanges.

The total number of jobless registered with the 67 employment exchanges across the state is 8.65 lakh as on January 31, 2006. However, the revalidation of registrants in the Shimla exchange brought down the number to 32,149 from over 53,821. The remaining over 21,000 registrants were ghost jobseekers. It clearly indicates that the actual figure is almost 60 per cent of the official figures made available by the Labour Department all these years. As such, the actual number of unemployed persons in the state will come down to 5.16 lakh

The unemployment figures have been a subject of political debate, with the party in power disputing the official figures as exaggerated and the Opposition citing a much higher number. The figures reeled out range from over four lakh to 13 lakh. The ongoing exercise will bring out a clear picture.

Senior officers point out that the number of unemployed reported by the department all these years was higher as different cards of candidates were maintained on the basis of qualification. In many cases, a candidate has more than one card. As the figures were compiled on the basis of the cards which were manually counted, the number of unemployed was on the higher side. There will be no such problem in computerised records. The exercise is likely to be completed by July.

The initial computerised data is closer to reality and also explains the discrepancy in the percentage of population registered at employment exchanges at the state and national levels. At the national level, the number of unemployed registered with various employment exchanges is only 4 per cent of the population whereas in Himachal Pradesh, it comes to nearly 14 per cent.

Dharamsala, March 23
After spending several years, in Gyuto Tantric University in Sidhbari, near here, the 17th Karmapa will soon have permanent residence of his own. His office has been looking for a piece of land close to Dharamsala for the setting up of a monastery to house the Karmapa and his staff.

Mr Drupon Rinpoche, general secretary to the Karmapa, confirmed that certain locations had been shortlisted but final decision was yet to be taken. “The Gyuto Monastic University has been the temporary residence of the Karmapa. We do not plan to set up a massive structure but it would definitely have a small monastery and accommodation for his staff,” he said.

The new location has to be close to the Dalai Lama. We do not prefer going too far from McLeodganj, he said. Gyuto Tantric Monastry is a place for studying Buddhist philosophy, tantric meditation and ritual arts.

The Karmapa had escaped secretly from Tolung Tsurphu Monastery in Tibet with a few attendants and reached Dharamsala in January 2000. Since then, he has been living temporarily at Gyuto Ramoche Tantric University near Dharamsala.

At Gyuto, he has been able to continue his studies in Buddhist philosophy and receive instructions, transmissions, and empowerments of Karma Kagyu vajrayana practices from masters of the lineage. During his stay in India, he has met visitors from the world, including religious leaders, politicians and celebrities. Every week, His Holiness give audience at Gyuto and occasionally bestows public empowerment.

On February 2, 2001, Kalon Tashi Wangdi, Minister of Religion and Cultural Affairs in the Central Tibetan Administration (Tibetan Government-in-Exile) had announced that the government of India had granted formal refugee status to the Karmapa. This was celebrated by the Karmapa’s followers in starting travelling.

Failing to convince the Indian government to shift the Karmapa to Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, which is the headquarters of the Karmapa in India, it sought shifting of his official residence to some other location within Himachal.

An official said that present accommodation was inadequate for the Karmapa and disturbance, affects his studies.

Shimla, March 23
Perturbed by the increased activities of Maoist sympathizers in the state, the police has started taking not just photographs but also the finger prints of Nepalese migrants, numbering over 32,000 in Shimla district alone.

The police, which is maintaining close surveillance on the activities of the Maoists sympathisers, has decided to be more particular about the details and antecedents of the Nepalese who are working in the state. All Nepalese are being asked to register themselves at the nearest police station, where their photographs, fingerprints and addresses are being kept.

Majority of the Nepalese, many of whom keep visiting Nepal, are engaged as farm and orchard labourers. The highest concentration of Nepalese is in Shimla, Solan, Kinnur and Sirmour districts.

Though there have been a number of reports of extortion by the Maoist sympathizers in the Kinnaur and Rohru area the police and intelligence agencies have not been able to confirm it. The appearance of posters in Shimla, Rampur and Solan in support of the Maoist movement in Nepal caused a flutter among the police circle, leading to strict vigil on their activities.

“Putting up posters in support of the movement, which is spearheaded by a recognised political party in Nepal is basically no crime so as such the police cannot take any action against those who are pro-Maoists,” said a senior police official. He, however, added that strict vigil was being maintained on those who were known Maoists sympathisers.

The police is maintaining close coordination with its Uttaranchal counterparts for exchange of information about the activities and movement of the Maoist sympathizers. “Keeping in view the involvement of large number of Nepalese in heinous crimes like murders and thefts, we need to keep entire details about them so that in case of an incident we are not found groping in the dark,” said another police official.

Kangra, March 23
As per a study, 48.1 per cent patients in India get injections and 63 per cent of these injections were found unsafe with risk to the patient or to the injection giver or risk to the community.

This was disclosed here yesterday by Dr T.D. Sharma, Secretary, Himachal Foundation, working for the healthcare problems while addressing doctors of Dr R.P. Government Medical College Tanda, pharmacists and nurses, at the first-ever training programme on safe injection practices under Model Injection Centre Programme in the local Civil Hospital.

The course, which was jointly organised by GOI Ministry of Health, AIIMS, New Delhi, state Health Department and Himachal Foundation, was inaugurated by the Principal of the college, Dr N.K. Kaushik, was aimed at carrying on of the process of safe injections for the patients and the giver.

Dr Sharma said as per the WHO, 12 billion injections were given annually worldwide and out of these, 300 crore were given in India. He said the Indian estimate was as per the study by the Indian Program Evaluation Network based at AIIMS New Delhi.

He said that as per this study, 48.1 per cent, that is almost one in two patients, in India got injections and 63 per cent of these injections were found unsafe with risk to the patient or to the injection giver or risk to the community.

Dr Sharma said 80,000 to 1,60,000 new HIV infections worldwide were due to unsafe injections annually. He said a considerable number of the infections like hepatitis B and C were also transmitted through unsafe injections. He said that unsafe method of giving injections, unsafe disposal of syringes which affect the rag pickers was a matter of concern for the people working for the healthcare in society.

He said viewing the gravity of the situation, Model Injection Center (MIC) Program was started in the country and this programme was the first in the state. He said that the MIC program would concentrate on training of the injection prescribers, injection givers, and educating the community about the safe injections.

He said about 40 such courses would be conducted during the next financial year in this hill state to deliberate the importance of safe injections for the community, patients and health providers.

Dr Kaushik said this pilot project was being run in 25 centres and medical colleges of the country including one in the Civil Hospital, Kangra. He said that in the first phase MIC would be established at Civil Hospital, Kangra followed by CHC Nagrota Bagwan and PHC Tiara before being extended to other government and private institutions in this district.

Kangra, March 23
More than 400 persons were detected as HIV positive out of 1800 persons who were tested at a voluntary counselling and testing centre in the Dr R.P. Government Medical College Hospital taking the number of the HIV positive cases in the district to 450 which included 22 children below the age of seven and eight years with 53 full blown cases.

Dr Kuldeep Sharma, District AIDS Project Officer, said today that in order to detect HIV cases, the centre was established in March 2002 and so far 1800 patients were tested during this period and 400 were found HIV positive. He said tests conducted at the center were further checked the IGMC Shimla and AIIMS Centre in New Delhi and quality of testing was maintained.

Dr Sharma said the graph of the HIV positive cases from males has shifted to females. Hence a female counsellor has been appointed in the Department of Gynaecology.

Shimla, March 23
Pained at the ‘failure’ of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in taking effective steps to prevent the decay and seepage at many places within the imposing structure of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) has offered to depute its experts for undertaking the conservation work.

The convener of the Himachal chapter of INTACH, Mr B.L. Malhans, has written to the Director General of the ASI, Mr S.K. Mishra, pointing out the decay that has set in at the IIAS, which was once the residence of the Viceroy of India during the British rule. He has said that the conservation work will have to be undertaken at the earliest if the building is to be saved.

“It is really painful to see such a fine work of architecture crumble before your eyes while people responsible for its maintenance and upkeep fail to take effective steps in conserving and protecting the magnificent building,” says Mr Malhans.

He says it is all the more painful to see the decay setting in the wood work at the building as there is no dearth of money for its upkeep and maintenance from the IIAS who bears the entire cost.

Mr Malhans in his letter to the ASI has also pointed out that the staff deputed there is incompetent and have no practical knowledge of the style of architecture in which the sprawling structure was made.

He has suggested that a person with better knowledge and competence to deal with the situation, preferably a conservation architect must be assigned the task. “It would be best if the ASI takes the assistance of such expert from England so that the building is not allowed to just crumble and decay,” he says.

INTACH has also offered to depute its experts who have undergone training to perform the conservation work. The Trust under its scholarship programme regularly sends architects and other experts to foreign universities to do courses in conservation and preservation.

Mr Arun Chaudhary, secretary of the IIAS, could not be contacted. However, it is learnt that there is no dearth of money as far as the IIAS is concerned and there have been occasions when the money allocated for the purpose remained unutilised.

Chamba, March 23
Shri Sanatan Dharam Math Mandir Suraksha Samiti has described the proposed rath yatra of the BJP in the name of national integration as mere “ostentation” on mislead the masses of the country.

In a press statement issued here today, Swami Virendrananda Giri, state president of the samiti, said the move of the rath yatra was the brainchild of Mr Lal Krishan Advani, “who himself had failed to maintain unity even in his own party”.

Swami Giri advised Mr Advani not to mislead and befool the nation just to capture power at the Centre. Now Mr Advani could not get the confidence of Hindu Samaj and Sadhu Samaj and should forget returning to power, Swami Giri added.

Reminding the commitments of Mr Advani while in the NDA government, Swami Giri said Mr Advani had forgotten the scrapping of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, construction of temples and the issue of cow slaughter.

Shimla, March 23
About 30 sheep and goats were buried alive in a massive landslide triggered by heavy downpour in remote Trella village in Bharmaur tribal region of Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh, official sources said today.

Some parts of the village faced the threat of sinking as due to the landslide last night, fissures appeared at several places in the village and surrounding areas, the sources said.

Meanwhile, intense cold wave sweeping the entire tribal belt and other high-altitude areas continued unabated even as the region had some respite from snow and rains.

The tribal valleys of Lahaul, Spiti and Pangi reeled under biting cold wave conditions as minimum temperature stayed between minus eight and minus 17 degree celsius. The weather was cloudy in Lahaul and Spiti and day temperature also hovered around the freezing point.

The vehicular traffic within Lahaul valley has been resumed and Keylong-Udaipur, Keylong-Koksar and Keylong-Darcha roads have been cleared of snow. However, the work to open the Manali-Leh National highway beyond Koksar and Mari has not been resumed.

The day temperature shot up in mid and lower hills and stayed between 25 degree and 28 degree C at various places in lower hills. The local meteorological centre said that presence of thick clouds over south Pakistan could result in rains or snow in the region in next 72 hours.
— PTI

Dharamsala, March 23
Demanding adoption of “one rank, one pension” rule for the ex-servicemen, Shahpur MLA Major Vijai Singh Mankotia said the state Assembly should pass a resolution urging the Centre to reconsider its decision to stick to the condition of a minimum 30 years of experience to get pension.

Major Mankotia, who is also the president of the HP Ex-Services League, said all ex-servicemen below the rank of subedars were deprived of pension benefits due to this “deliberate aberration” by the Fifth Pay Commission. He also sought setting up of a separate pay commission for defence personnel.

Nahan, March 23
Taking serious view of the scuffle between the wine contractors at the place of auction of liquor vends in the Municipal Hall here on Tuesday, Superintendent of Police D.K. Yadav late this evening transferred Mr Amar Singh, Station House Officer of Nahan police station, to the Police Lines with immediate effect.

Mr Narvir Rathour, who was SHO Paonta, till last month has been transferred to Nahan police station to replace Mr Amar Singh.

Kumarhatti, March 23
Come summer and water crisis becomes a major problem for Dharampur residents.

As against the daily water demand of 5 lakh litres in summer, the IPH Department has managed to arrange only 1 lakh litre from the Dagroh khud and bored hand pumps. Around the same quantity of water was arranged by way of pressing water tanks.

To meet the deficit of 3 lakh litres, the department has to supply water on alternative days in town.

Solan, March 23
The body of six-year-old Manu, son of Nepali labourer Lal Bahadur was found floating in a water tank near Mushroom Centre at Chambhaghat on Tuesday. The child had gone missing on March 19 and his parents were on the lookout for him. The body has been sent for a post-mortem and a case under Section 174 of the Cr.P.C. registered.
— OC